Kukla's Korner Hockey

Montreal Canadiens winger Lars Eller suggested that the Edmonton Oilers were "like a junior team" prior to Tuesday night's game between Montreal and Edmonton, and it backfired in a big way, with the Oilers taking the bulletin board material and running with it en route to a 4-3 win over the Canadiens.

The Globe and Mail's Sean Gordon took note of the trash-talking and its result...

"It can be anything, you know? They play a little bit like a junior team, I think, sometimes. They take a lot of risks, a lot of chances, they’re a little all over the place. There’s not a lot of structure, always, in their game,” quoth Eller.

After the Oilers beat the Habs a few hours later, Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins said of Eller: “he might as well have sent me a fruit basket and a bottle of wine.”

“We thank Lars Eller for his comments before the game. Awesome,” Eakins said.

Montreal counterpart Michel Therrien gravely intoned that Eller’s remarks were “unacceptable” and that “he’s a young player, he’ll learn from this.”

Comments

Shit, if the narrative is that the Oilers needed bulletin board material from Eller to get motivated enough to beat a just-decent Habs team, doesn’t that kind of prove Eller’s point that they’re a bit immature still?